


Chimera

by zosimos (trismegistus)



Series: Reverse'verse [59]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-29
Updated: 2014-08-29
Packaged: 2018-02-15 06:24:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2219112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trismegistus/pseuds/zosimos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rian's birthday is busy this year in a not-good way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chimera

It wasn’t that Edward had forgotten the day - he’d marked it off months ago - it was more that he had no control over the fact that sometimes people just went nuts and had to be dealt with. Especially when those people were formerly-licensed State Alchemists with a grudge against the military that Edward really couldn’t argue with, except for the fact that there were civilians caught in the crossfire.

"Uggggh," Rian Martin complained, hauling himself over the carcass of a very large crossbreed chimera. There were so many bits of animal mixed in this one that Edward wasn’t even sure what the base creature once was - it was a fair bit of complex alchemy to create such a beast, and even if chimera gave him pause to this day he could at least step back and admire the sheer amount of skill it took to marry attributes and the thing to not only live, but *thrive.*

Rian was covered in blood, but was moving fine so his heart slid back down his throat into its rightful place. “You all right?” he asked instead, and Rian wiped the palm of his hand over his eyes, clearing his vision.

"I’m never answering the telephone again," he said. "I could be drinking with Tony right now."

There were several such carcasses littering the street. The person currently at the top of Edward’s personal shitlist was one “Bloodweaving Alchemist”, aka Dietrich Haas. Really, who gave out a title like “Bloodweaving Alchemist” and expected things to go swimmingly well? He should have known this assignment was shit when they handed him the promotion in the first place.

Rian stopped beside him. He was taller than Edward now, disgustingly - he’d had a while to get used to it and he never would. “Did we get all the chimera?” he asked, staring down the street. Some of the grunt troops had been clearing civilians out - Haas had unleashed an entire herd of unnatural beasties of all sizes, but most were these monsterous chimera, each easily the size of a head of steer and more than a handful individually.

"I think so." Edward had avoided most of the backsplash of blood - his sleeve was torn halfway up his right arm, Sheska was going to read him the riot act about having to get a new uniform jacket, this one had gone almost threadbare from the amount of times he’d had to transmute it. He’d ended up transmuting a spear after he realized that the chimera were bigger than anticipated and that was what he held now, his arm no longer bladed itself. Rian didn’t usually use a bladed weapon - his weapon was his air alchemy; but several of the chimera didn’t seem to have fully formed, air-breathing lungs so he carried a large dagger that Edward had pulled quickly from some pipes for him. Edward glanced back at one of the chimera and thought about how he’d like to open it up and see how it worked, especially since losing the breathable oxygen hadn’t slowed it down - but then he thought about a splash of red thrown up against a brick wall and couldn’t bear to look at it further.

"I’m going to rip out this chucklefuck’s lungs and feed them to a monkey," Rian snorted. Two men in military uniforms ran up to them and saluted Edward quickly. He returned the salute, a bit slower than theirs, and waited as the men filled him in.

Rian squatted on the ground, dagger by his knee and wiped his face clean with the bottom of his black shirt. “I told you Haas would go underground,” he called as the men finished up their report. “But you wouldn’t listen, oh no how dare the great and wise Colonel-“

"Shut up," Edward said, and then dismissed the soldiers. "We’re on the clock, you can’t be grossly insubordinate in front of people."

"Watch me," Rian muttered, and stood. "You called me in on this, I’m supposed to be off today. YOU’RE supposed to be off, today."

Edward looked up the street, at the dead chimera and a handful of small burning fires, before looking back to Rian, his eyebrow raised.

"There are other people who can take care of this shit," Rian said.

"Yeah." Edward turned away, kept the anger in his chest. "Sure."

There really wasn’t anyone else who could take care of this mess. The alchemy department - didn’t really have a name or an official designation; he just handled the entrance exams and oh, yeah, the clean-up whenever one of the recently discharged (or hell, even the still-active) State Alchemists had a meltdown. If he was lucky the crisis was mild and involved someone shouting and flailing their arms. If he was unlucky, there were casualties and property destruction.

This definitely fell into the latter category.

Rian sighed deeply, and held the dagger loosely in his hand. “So, what. Haas has gone into the sewers?”

"Seems like it." Edward waved his hand as more blue-clad Amestrian soldiers came running. "We’re going to have to flush him out-" he half turned and saw Rian already heading away. "Whoa, whoa - where do you think YOU’RE going?"

"Flushing him out." Rian hauled up a manhole cover and looked down into the darkness below.

"We’ll send someone else to do that," Edward said. Rian looked up at him and gave him an all-too familiar look.

"Really?"

Crouched over an open manhole cover - there was still chimera blood caked in his hair - and Edward was struck suddenly that Rian wasn’t the gangling seventeen-year-old alchemist who passed the State Alchemist’s examination almost by accident. He’d grown into a man right under his nose, strong jaw and broad shoulders and an almost feral glint in his eyes. Edward ached to follow him down into the labyrinth of sewers, to push him against the wall out of the sight of the military, where their accusing eyes couldn’t see - but he held rank and now he had other priorities to attend to first - the civilians, the casualities - so Edward shook his head once instead. “Bring him back alive.”

Rian’s grin was sharp and familiar. “No promises.”


End file.
